47 / 56
45
CONSTRUCTION WORLD
FEBRUARY
2016
I
>
Pushing for growth in an economic
downturn takes tenacity, care-
fully calculated risk profiling
and considerable research, all
‘flavoured with a touch of foresight’.
These are the attributes displayed by
Scribante Concrete, a division within the
larger Scribante Construction Group,
as the company expands its reach in Gauteng
with the commissioning of two concrete
batching facilities – one in Muldersdrift and
the other in Laezonia.
Alongside some sizeable investment into
plant, equipment and staffing, Scribante
Concrete has expanded its fleet with the
purchase of 35 additional FAW vehicles. Going
into operation at the West Rand batch plants
at present, the new FAW units include 27 FAW
35.340FC 8 m
3
mixer trucks, six FAW 33.330FC
6 m3 mixer trucks, and two FAW 28.280FT side
tipper trucks.
The decision to expand
Troy Petzer, operations manager for Scribante
Concrete, explains: “The Scribante Construc-
TURNING UP
the
Repeat purchase is the best measure of success
as is evident from the 35 FAW mixers and
tippers added recently to the fleet of Scribante
Concrete, bringing FAW’s representative total in
that fleet to 89 units.
VOLUME
in Gauteng
dozen new jobs so far with this expansion.
“As we’ve done in the past, Scribante
Concrete will attend to basic service and
maintenance on the vehicles on-site. To
this end we’ve appointed two technicians.
All technical training, driver orientation
and testing, as well as 24/7 parts supply is
provided and guaranteed by FAW SA
whom we’ve come to trust. This was a
crucial element in our purchase decision,”
affirms Petzer.
He certainly aims to get every ounce
of work out of each vehicle. However, the
performance of each unit or ‘cubes per day’
as he puts it is highly dependent on the oper-
ating environment.
Other Gauteng sites
Other Scribante concrete production sites
in Gauteng are based in Midrand and near
Kyalami Business Park. Past projects served
from these sites include the upgrade of both
N2 and N3 freeways, and supplying concrete
for a tunnel section of the Gautrain project
between Marlboro and Linbro Park.
tion Group saw the opportunity, crunched the
numbers and with very careful consideration
and planning, decided to invest and expand
our Gauteng footprint. We had the chance to
acquire the sites for our batch plants.
Based on a 50 kilometre radius for deliv-
ering our time-sensitive product, we secured
suitable construction contracts to support
our growing business, as well as enough
future prospects to validate our decision to
strengthen our position in Gauteng.
“We’ve been running FAW mixers and
tippers in our fleet for close on three years
now. Based on the total cost of ownership
calculation, together with superb aftermarket
service and support, our choice fell to FAW
as we replaced older vehicles in the fleet and
started equipping for the West Rand plants.
“Besides the vehicles, we’ve refurbished
and installed the batching plants, appointed
a management team for sales and customer
contact, done staffing for concrete produc-
tion, also for our maintenance and service
workshop, and acquired drivers for our new
extended fleet. In total we’ve created over a